Translator: – – Editor: – –
I went in after saying goodbye to Marie. Inside, Anton was leaning back on a chair too many sizes bigger than him.
“Bring tea for two, Marie.”
“Of course, Mr. Manager. Shall I bring the tea from yesterday?”
“No! There’s not that much left. Today, we’ll have Pirim tea instead!”
“Yes. Right away.” Marie closed the door behind her and left Anton and me alone in his office.
“You sit here. So, what brings you here after yesterday? There’s no way to get golden rings yet, so you don’t have anything to buy here. Other devas came by, too. Three of them, to be exact. I have a good feeling this time. I think I found a good site. To be honest, this place was losing popularity, but I didn’t have the funds to afford another site and ended up here, but I’ve been lucky so far! My Store was first to be visited by a deva out of all the other Stores! The best part was that deva was the first deva. Kakaka! It’s proof that Molina, who protects my family, is looking after me. Anyway…”
“…”
“Mr. Manager, I’ve brought the tea.”
“Yeah. Come in, Marie.”
There was one thing I was sure. This Anton guy talked a lot. He had not stopped talking since I sat down.
If Marie hadn’t brought the tea that moment, he probably would have gone on for another ten minutes. But I didn’t interrupt him.
I came here looking for information about dungeons, and Anton might slip up and tell me something he shouldn’t.
I just sipped at the tea
“Oh yeah. What brings you here today?” Anton finally asked as we drank our tea.
“I came because I was curious about something.”
“Curious? About what?”
“Do you know anything about dungeons?”
“Dungeons? Sure I do.”
“How much do you know about them?”
I knew I wasn’t that much of a conversationalist. But I knew how to lead the conversation with Anton.
What I mean is that Anton was a chatterbox. A chatterbox that would never close.
Rather than asking directly someone as gossipy as him, slightly beating around the bush would make it more likely that Anton the chatterbox would spill something on his own. I was just waiting for the right moment.
“How much do I know? Are you dumb? Dungeons are your treasure chest. You devas will be constantly going in and out of them soon. You will have to hunt monsters and build up experience to level up so you can grow stronger. Of course, you’ll find plenty of items and golden rings along the way. If you’re lucky, you can find a random box that will give you some unbelievable treasures. If you find any materials or items you don’t need, you bring those to us. We’ll give you golden rings for those. Of course, what you sell is up to you. You can even trade with others.”
After he finished his sentence, he sat up from his chair and leaned over his desk to bring his face closer to mine.
“I’ll tell you this especially, because it’s you. There’s nothing to be afraid of attempting a dungeon. There’s nothing better than dungeons that will make you guys stronger. If you hesitate about dungeons, sooner or later, something far scarier can come to make your life hell.”
Anton told me as if it were some great secret, throwing his light demeanor away and putting on a serious tone.
“Anyway, why are you asking about dungeons suddenly? It’s not the time for monsters to spawn…gasp! What? You couldn’t have found a dungeon already, have you?”
“That’s…”
Thunk.
Anton suddenly sprang from his chair that he was pushing so close to desk and shouted.
“That can’t be! It hasn’t been three days since the Otadonol stage and you’re telling me that you’ve found a dungeon already? Even though field monsters haven’t spawned yet?”
“No…”
“You’re Earth’s first deva. You learned the Unrivaled skill at level 0. And you’re telling me you found a dungeon three days after the Otadonol stage started? How lucky are you? Are you sure you’re a native of Earth that entered the Otadonol stage?”
Anton didn’t wait for me to reply and got all excited by himself.
“Wow! In all my years, I’ve never met a guy luckier than you. How can anyone get this lucky? All else aside, dungeons are supposed to be hidden by a protective spell before field monsters spawn. The only way to check for an entrance of a dungeon is to break that protective spell, so how exactly did you find it? Even if the shield was weakened, you shouldn’t be able to feel or see it, so how did you know the shield was there? Did you just attack randomly and the shield happened to be fight in front of you and the shield just happened to break under your attack? That would be your only chance of finding a dungeon.”
“!!!”
Sure, I led the conversation on purpose. But he took the bait perfectly.
“Mr. Manager!”
As soon as Anton finished speaking, Marie called to him hurriedly, to try to stop him from saying any more.
“Huh, what?”
“You can’t just say things about dungeons like that.”
“But, Marie, this guy already found a dun…”
Anton looked at my direction as pleaded to Marie.
“Didn’t you tell me you found a dungeon?”
“I didn’t find one yet.”
“Damn it! You con!”
Anton shouted as his face grew beet red.
“Ok, I may have baited you into telling me something, but I didn’t con you.”
“That’s called conning!”
“I guess you can feel that way, but I didn’t say that I found a dungeon. If you really feel that way, then I’m sorry.”
If it was just me and Anton in the room, I probably would have denied it to the end. But Marie was behind Anton the entire time, so I confessed and apologized.
If I had continued to deny it with Marie there, I had a strong feeling that I would no longer be able to use Seoul’s Store 72 in the future.
“Curses! You scammed me. Because of you, I’m about to be broke. You idiot! Ahhh! What will I do, Marie? Ahhh!”
Anton was still red after my apology. His eyes even began to well with tears and cried into Marie’s embrace.
Marie spoke to me as she held Anton in her two arms.
“Deva Lee Jiwon.”
“Yes, Miss Marie.”
“From what I see, you led the conversation in order to get information from Mr. Anton who hasn’t been a manager long enough to know what his current situation is. Am I wrong?”
“Hmm… I won’t deny it.”
She sighed…
